Eric Waite of Westborough, MA piles up kids on a friend's sled on December 27, 2012 in Greenfield, Massachusetts. A serious winter storm that caused tornados in the South on Christmas Day swept across the Northeast on Thursday, bringing snow, sleet, rain and causing dangerous travel conditions.

Cody Mooney tosses his daughter, Willow, 17 months, in the air as snow geese take flight behind Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012, in the Skagit Valley near La Conner, Wash. Bird watchers took advantage of a day without rain Thursday to gaze at some of the tens of thousands of snow geese that spend the winter near the mouth of the Skagit River there. The geese migrate from their mating grounds in Alaska and Siberia in late November to spend the winter in wetlands and farm fields of the Skagit Valley and other areas of northwest Washington.

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office officer Glenn Youngblood takes a break from his rounds in the San Marco neighborhood of Jacksonville, Fla. to take a cell phone photograph of the setting sun lit streak of a cloud from Riverfront Park late Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012.

Sled riders enjoy the day at Slab Cabin Park, in State College, Pa . Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012. The cleanup continues after a major winter storm hit Centre County Wednesday.

Photo: Nabil K. Mark, Associated Press

Sled riders enjoy the day at Slab Cabin Park, in State College, Pa...

Sled riders enjoy the day at Slab Cabin Park, in State College, Pa... Photo-3953153.54438 - SFGate

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In this Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012 photo, a man talks on his cellphone, as he walks along Main Street during a snowstorm late Wednesday night. The winter storm brought snow to inland parts of the Northeast and driving rain and wind to areas along the coast Thursday, a day after it swept through the nation's middle, dumping a record snowfall in Arkansas and wrecking post-holiday plans for thousands of travelers.

A lone runner navigates the bike path through a snow storm at Chicago's North Ave. beach Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012. Winter storms that in recent weeks have pounded the Midwest and eastern U.S. don't come close to erasing the harm of the nation's worst drought in decades, making snowfall and its eventual melt-off more crucial than ever as drought still grips more than 60 percent of the continental U.S. much as it has since July.

Workers install new Waterford Crystal triangles on the Times Square New Years Eve Ball at a media event on December 27, 2012 in New York City. The ball will once again descend a 141-foot tall flagpole to mark the beginning of 2013.